My Brief Review - Philly

[lerxt1990]

Just feel the need to share.  I saw Rush for the first time 44 years ago.  The ticket was $9 (if you keep score that means I paid 10x the inflation adjusted cost of 1982), the stage was sparse as they wre eback then, but they blew me away.  And here all these years later, and all these tours later after having seen them scores of times, with modest but hopeful expectations, and they did it again.  The setlist, the stage presentations and lights (wow, just wow) and the energy of Geddy and Alex (Geddy seemed downright possessed at time wailing on his bass, quite literally spazzing out while playing).  I thought of the quote of Neil saying to Geddy after the first night of the Vapor Trails tour.. "It would have been a shame if that never happened again.."  What a great night, a great crowd, great energy and a simply fabulous show.  

 

Sundry Items:

I didnt buy any but the merch looked really cool - and I love that they have city specific merch

I get it take a video clip or photo, but jesus, had a lot of Martin Scorceses around me videoing the entire show with their large format phones - folks - enjoy the show

Standing for the whole show was rough!  I needed a break as bad as Geddy and Alex and Anika?

I miss smelling weed (which I do not partake in but still) at concerts.  I always associate that smell with concerts.

Geddy gave a dedication to our local DJ who played Rush over the decades, Pierre Robert, who just passed away this year

Long and slower moving mens room lines as this crowd of largely older pasty white men dealt with both their prodigious beer intake and their enlarged prostates - prostate jokes were flying in there

Setlist, as described elsewhere was truly great

Geddy's voice really sounded pretty good - amazing at his age

My ears are still ringing

Edited August 22 by lerxt1990

[Flame]

Setlist spoiler alert:‼️ 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

So, full-blast 2112 on Night One of a two-nighter, eh? Nice. 

[lerxt1990]

3 hours ago, Flame said:

Setlist spoiler alert:‼️ 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

So, full-blast 2112 on Night One of a two-nighter, eh? Nice. 

 

Unreal.  And frankly as our friend posted his article in that other thread, opening wiht that opener is just the Rush-iest sh-t ever...!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[HemiBeers]

4 hours ago, lerxt1990 said:

 

Unreal.  And frankly as our friend posted his article in that other thread, opening wiht that opener is just the Rush-iest sh-t ever...!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I was really surprised with the opener. Thinking that they would ease into the concert with one of their typical or easier openers. Naaa f**k it, let's do full epic.

[lerxt1990]

1 hour ago, HemiBeers said:

I was really surprised with the opener. Thinking that they would ease into the concert with one of their typical or easier openers. Naaa f**k it, let's do full epic.

Exactly!

[lerxt1990]

Philly II - electric boogaloo.  Just wow, and between the two nights.. the portfolio of Rush-iness was epic.  Viva Rush!

[Blue J]

I haven't heard a note from this tour yet, but seeing them Wednesday night in Detroit- soooo looking forward to it!

[exiled yorkie]

I went to both nights. I enjoyed Philly night 1 better but both were great. For night 2 Alex had guitar issues and Anika had a bit of a train wreck during Red Sector A.  

[lerxt1990]

27 minutes ago, exiled yorkie said:

I went to both nights. I enjoyed Philly night 1 better but both were great. For night 2 Alex had guitar issues and Anika had a bit of a train wreck during Red Sector A.  

 

Great shows.  I give Anika a B+ overall - she's great, but being a drum nerd and the drums being a non trivial part of Rush music.. some of the playing was distractedly.. less.

[Lurkst]

57 minutes ago, exiled yorkie said:

I went to both nights. I enjoyed Philly night 1 better but both were great. For night 2 Alex had guitar issues and Anika had a bit of a train wreck during Red Sector A.  

 

That was one of the "weaker"* songs I witnessed in Toronto. Sounded weird with the acoustic drums.

 

(*from a very high bar)

 

Incredible looking setlist last night IMO!

 

Edited August 24 by Lurkst

[PAFHumbucker]

2 hours ago, Lurkst said:

 

That was one of the "weaker"* songs I witnessed in Toronto. Sounded weird with the acoustic drums.

 

(*from a very high bar)

 

Incredible looking setlist last night IMO!

 

 

The looper he’s using during Limelight at the end of the solo didn’t work if I’m remembering correctly.  I could swear this tour he’s holding the note and then triggering the arpeggios via a looper instead of what he used to do which was use a looper to hold the last note and play the arpeggio’s himself.

[liquidcrystalcompass]

5 hours ago, lerxt1990 said:

 

Great shows.  I give Anika a B+ overall - she's great, but being a drum nerd and the drums being a non trivial part of Rush music.. some of the playing was distractedly.. less.

I’ve only seen YouTube clips of her playing.  She doesn’t have the thunderous sound of Neil.  She’s not bad but she’s not him.  I could definitely hear the difference 

[lerxt1990]

1 hour ago, liquidcrystalcompass said:

I’ve only seen YouTube clips of her playing.  She doesn’t have the thunderous sound of Neil.  She’s not bad but she’s not him.  I could definitely hear the difference 

To make it brief, there are fills and accents that she simply doesn't do.  The volume and crispness of the drums I found fine, but she in spots dumbed down paradiddles to rolls, accenting 2 and 4 where Neil would accent 1 and 3, and with her kit did things differently, but always always removing things not adding or changing really for artistic sake.  I'm not slamming her, she's a good drummer, but changing Neil's notes that much is noticeable because the drums are an integral part of the song, not just an accompaniment.  She also on night 1 was leading the boys a little playing fast.

[Lurkst]

Anika is doing a fantastic job of bringing the songs to life but she's clearly not Neil Peart, nobody could be.

 

Some of the Molson Amphitheatre 97 show popped up on YouTube last week. It was absolutely incredible to see that again, peak Peart. The guy was a complete one off.

 

[Relayer2112]

I was at the second Philly show and I hate to say it but, to me, it wasn't Rush.  I'm not surprised that I felt this way as I was also getting that vibe when I watched some of the stuff on youtube.  While I thought that Geddy's voice was, at least, as good as I remember from R40, I thought the playing was a bit sloppy. 

 

The lightshow was great, though many of the accompanying videos come across as AI generated blah.

 

I would not have gone to this show if two of my kids hadn't expressed interest in it.  I'm all about the deeper cuts and, in my opinion, I only got two of those in a 2 1/2 hour set.  That's not enough for me.  

[James Bond]

19 hours ago, PAFHumbucker said:

 

The looper he’s using during Limelight at the end of the solo didn’t work if I’m remembering correctly.  I could swear this tour he’s holding the note and then triggering the arpeggios via a looper instead of what he used to do which was use a looper to hold the last note and play the arpeggio’s himself.

 

That is correct. He used to just use the hold function on a delay to repeat that last note of the solo, but now on any Alex focused video you can see him record the arpeggios into the looper on the second chorus and use that instead. The opposite of what he used to do, and he's kind of missed the beat on it a few times.

[Blue J]

4 hours ago, Relayer2112 said:

I was at the second Philly show and I hate to say it but, to me, it wasn't Rush.  I'm not surprised that I felt this way as I was also getting that vibe when I watched some of the stuff on youtube.  While I thought that Geddy's voice was, at least, as good as I remember from R40, I thought the playing was a bit sloppy. 

 

The lightshow was great, though many of the accompanying videos come across as AI generated blah.

 

I would not have gone to this show if two of my kids hadn't expressed interest in it.  I'm all about the deeper cuts and, in my opinion, I only got two of those in a 2 1/2 hour set.  That's not enough for me.  

 

I'm going in excited, anticipating for sure- as I said earlier in the thread, I haven't heard a single note of music from this tour yet (and that was on purpose on my part). I do think I'll just be in awe of seeing Geddy and Alex together again, in 2026, performing Rush music as Rush.

 

But the main reason I quoted the post above is with regard to the accompanying videos- I've never been the biggest fan of that stuff, even if some of it has been entertaining I guess, on some level. Sure, it showcases their humor, and that's been a big part in the fun we have watching them play- knowing they've always been just a bunch of goofballs. That being said, I really don't think we'd be missing anything if they didn't have those at all. Just play the music, fellas. 

 

Am I the only one who feels this way? 

 

One caveat to all that- this being a reunion/comeback sort of tour and Neil having passed away since they last played, if there is a video montage/tribute to all the years that Ged and Al and Neil spent together, I DO think that is certainly worthwhile.

[BastillePark]

7 hours ago, Relayer2112 said:

I was at the second Philly show and I hate to say it but, to me, it wasn't Rush.  I'm not surprised that I felt this way as I was also getting that vibe when I watched some of the stuff on youtube.  While I thought that Geddy's voice was, at least, as good as I remember from R40, I thought the playing was a bit sloppy. 

 

The lightshow was great, though many of the accompanying videos come across as AI generated blah.

 

I would not have gone to this show if two of my kids hadn't expressed interest in it.  I'm all about the deeper cuts and, in my opinion, I only got two of those in a 2 1/2 hour set.  That's not enough for me.  

Which is interesting since Geddy said they've rehearsed more for this tour than any other. Maybe your expectations are coloring your opinion.   

[snowdog212]

4 hours ago, Blue J said:

 

I'm going in excited, anticipating for sure- as I said earlier in the thread, I haven't heard a single note of music from this tour yet (and that was on purpose on my part). I do think I'll just be in awe of seeing Geddy and Alex together again, in 2026, performing Rush music as Rush.

 

But the main reason I quoted the post above is with regard to the accompanying videos- I've never been the biggest fan of that stuff, even if some of it has been entertaining I guess, on some level. Sure, it showcases their humor, and that's been a big part in the fun we have watching them play- knowing they've always been just a bunch of goofballs. That being said, I really don't think we'd be missing anything if they didn't have those at all. Just play the music, fellas. 

 

Am I the only one who feels this way? 

 

One caveat to all that- this being a reunion/comeback sort of tour and Neil having passed away since they last played, if there is a video montage/tribute to all the years that Ged and Al and Neil spent together, I DO think that is certainly worthwhile.

Those videos have always been painfully unfunny,boring and way to long.Just start the show and 2nd half without them

[Blue J]

14 hours ago, snowdog212 said:

Those videos have always been painfully unfunny,boring and way to long.Just start the show and 2nd half without them

Well I won't say they've been unfunny, I have laughed at a good bit of that stuff. But I think I just reached a point of saturation for my tastes, like enough is enough guys- just get down to business, hahaha. 

[Relayer2112]

16 hours ago, BastillePark said:

Which is interesting since Geddy said they've rehearsed more for this tour than any other. Maybe your expectations are coloring your opinion.   

I just think it's extremely sad that Rush is getting outplayed by the plethora of tribute bands that I've seen over the years.  I know their fingers aren't as nimble as they used to be but I did expect the performance to be tighter than it was given that they're a couple months into the tour.

[Lurkst]

I actually don't mind the intro videos  Although I agree they don't always stand up to repeated viewing, there's usually something in there that will raise a laugh from me anyway.

 

When it comes to artwork, for good or bad, AI is here to stay, whether that's films, t-shirts, posters, tour books, it's involved in them all. It has certainly prompted a wider range of merchandise and as always it's up to the consumer to decide whether that's worth investing in. I bought the grey owl t-shirt as I thought that was a bit different and it's alli needed as a souvenir.

 

It was hard to fully recall after so many years, but I did feel like I'd seen  in concert. It was a similar buzz to the old days, before, during and after the gigs. It did also feel different to back then understandably, but then seeing Rush in 1996 was different to seeing them in 1986, was different to seeing them in 1976. And that was with the same three guys in the band.

 

Edited August 26 by Lurkst

[HemiBeers]

5 hours ago, Blue J said:

Well I won't say they've been unfunny, I have laughed at a good bit of that stuff. But I think I just reached a point of saturation for my tastes, like enough is enough guys- just get down to business, hahaha. 

Maybe a spoiler alert, but I'll save everyone some time. The post concert video is such a waste. Just grab your shit and get to the car.

[thizzellewashington]

I'm beyond over it with the Paul Rudd/Jason Segel "I Love You Man" bit. They can retire that. The South Park intro to Tom Sawyer is still funny every time, though.

[Union 5-3992]

1 hour ago, Lurkst said:

When it comes to artwork, for good or bad, AI is here to stay, whether that's films, t-shirts, posters, tour books, it's involved in them all. It has certainly prompted a wider range of merchandise and as always it's up to the consumer to decide whether that's worth investing in. I bought the grey owl t-shirt as I thought that was a bit different and it's alli needed as a souvenir.

This is not an excuse. It's cheap and lazy and it could support a real artist instead. Bands like Primus and Queens of the Stone Age are much smaller time acts and they actually pay individual artists to make tour graphics or show-specific merch. With what Rush is charging, they could easily afford something with a bit more effort. Compare this tour's merch to prior years and it's nowhere near as good as it used to be. 

 

When Rush did explicitly hire a real artist (for the Toronto print), it was the best looking thing they made all tour

 

Edited August 26 by Union 5-3992